Presser-foot and overlay-guide for sewing-machines



(No Model.)

C. P. LITTLEJOHN.

PRESSER FOOT AND OVERLAY GUIDE FOR SEWING MAGHINES7 No. 413,325. Patented-Oct. 22, 1889.

W7 5 I 5 far 422 2 Hi UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. LITTLEJOl-IN, OF BRIDG EPORT, CONNECTICUT.

PRESSER-FOOT AND OVERLAY-GUIDE FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 413,325, dated October 22, 1889.

Application filed December 11, 1888. $erial No. 293,305. (No model.)

T0 whom it may concern.-

JOHN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Presser- Feet and Overlay-Guides; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to produce a sewing-machine presserfoot especially adapted for stitching overlays upon a foundation fabricas, for example, in the manufacture of corsets, where it is quite common to form bone and stay pockets and to cover the section-seams of the corset by stitching on overlays. With this end in view I have devised the novel presser-foot and overlayguide of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, numbers being used to denote the several parts.

Figure l is a plan view of my novel presserfoot detached from the machine, but in operative position, as when stitching the second edge of an overlay upon a foundation-piece; Fig. 2, an inner side elevation of my novel presser-foot detached, the foundation fabric and the overlay being shown in dotted lines. Figs. 3 and 6 are outer side elevations of two forms in which I have carried my invention into effect. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan view 5 and Figs. 5 and 7 are front elevations corresponding with Figs. 3 and 6, respectively.

1 denotes the body of the presser-foot, 2 the shank, and 3 the needle-hole.

It will be noticed that the special style of presser-foot illustrated in the drawings is that of a Singer machine. It should be understood, however, that my invention is equally adapted to any of the various styles of sewing-machines upon the market, the general style of the presser-foot, the shape of the shank, and the mode of its attachment to the presser-foot bar (not shown) being wholly immaterial so far as my present invention is concerned.

4 denotes the bearing portion of the presserfoot-that is, the portion that rests upon the work in use. This bearing portion extends across the rear portion of the body from side to side, as is clearly shown. The forward portion of the body is divided by a slot 5, which extends from the front into the needlehole into outer and inner arms, which I denote, respectively, by 6 and 7. The construction of the inner arm is clearly shown in Figs.

2 and 4-. It Will be seen that the under side thereof curves upward slightly from the front of the bearing portion, and then'extends approximately straight forward. The outer arm curves upward, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6, in such a manner that it cannot possibly 0bstruct the overlay, but will guide it down in position to be stitched.

8 is a guide attached to or made integral with the inner arm, which I term the overlay-guide. This guide terminates a short distance from the bearing portion, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 6, and extends outward under arm 6 as far as may be required, as shown in Figs. 4:, 5, and 7. This guide is so connect-ed to arm 7 .as to leave a shoulder 9 at its inner endthat is, at its point of joinder to arm 7. In use this shoulder serves as a gage for the overlay which abuts against it. It will be clearly seen from the various figures that the plane of guide 8 is above the plane of the bearing portion, so that there can be no friction between the under side of said guide and the foundation fabric.

In use, the fabric, which I have denoted by 10, is passed under the bearing portion, and then the inner edge of the overlay (denoted by 11) is passed in from the front over guide 8, its inner edge abutting against shoulder 9, and is then pressed underarm (5 until its forward end is engaged between the bearing portion and the feed-point. (Not shown.) .It will thus be seen that in use the edge of the overlay in front of the needle is continually in view through slot 5. This is of great assistance to the operator, as it makes it easy to keep the edge of the overlay in contact with the shoulder and renders it unnecessary to watch the needle constantly. It will of course be understood by those familiar with the art that these overlays may be either finished edge-tapesor may be strips of ordinary textile fabric with the edges turned under.

In using the latter class of overlays it is frequently desirable that the guide should be so constructed that the turned-under edge of the overlay maybe folded over the edge of the guide. I thereforefor certain uses pro- Vide guide 8 with an upwardly and inwardly turned lip 8, which extends nearly to shoulder 9, there being just suflicient space be tween the edge of said lip and the shoulder to permit the edge of the overlay to pass freely. In use lip 8 will lie between the overlay proper and the turned-under edge thereof, so that there is no possibility of the overlay escaping from the guide.

It is believed that the manner in which the.

overlay is inserted will be clearly understood from Figs. 1, 2, and 7. As soon as the forward end of the overlay has been inserted and is engaged under the bearing portion of the presser-foot, the machine is ready to be started. It will of course be apparent that my novel presser-foot is equally adapted to the stitching of both sides of the overlay. As soon as the article has been passed through the machine once and the right edge of the overlay stitched to the foundation fabric, the article is changed about and the opposite side of the overlay is stitched down in the same manner, this being the operation shown proving the quality of the work it greatly increases the production, as there is no requirement for constant guiding of work, it being impossible for the stitching to run cit the edge or to run inward upon the overlay. The operator is simply required to keep the edge of the'overlayin contact with shoulder 9 and to guide the foundation-piece. In fact, when an overlay with turned-under edges is used in connection with a guide having a lip, as shown, it is impossible for the overlay to slip or for the stitching to run either inward or off the edge even if the overlay is not touched by the operator.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. A sewing-machinepresser-foot having a bottom bearing-surface 4, and in front thereof an upwardly-turned arm 6, and an arm '7, having a shoulder 9, with a slot between" said arms, said arm 7 carrying a fiat horizontallyextending guide 8, projecting beneath the said upwardly-turned arm 6, but separated therefrom, and the bottom of said guide being above said bearing-surface 4.

2. A sewing-machine presser-foot having a bottom bearing-surface 4, and in front of said bearing-surface an upwardly-turned arm 6, and an arm '7, having a shoulder 9, with a slot 5 between said arms, said arm 7 being provided with a flat horizontally-extending guide 8, projecting laterally across the presser-foot from said arm 7, beneath said upwardly-turn ed arm 6, and having the upwardly-turned lip 8, the bottom of said guide being above said bearing-surface 4.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES F. LITTLEJOHN. Witnesses:

A. M. WOOSTER, ETTA F. PETTIT. 

